Florida International University (FIU) is an urban, doctoral granting institution located in Miami, Florida's largest population center. The mission of this state university is to serve the people of southeast Florida, the state, the nation and the international community by imparting knowledge through excellent teaching, creating new knowledge through research and fostering creativity and its expression. In 1996, FlU formally changed its mission statement "Reaching for the Top" to include "Health" as one of its primary strategic themes. With its current standing of 69% minority students, "Health" as a designated mission area, and its stated goal to be one of the nation's top public urban research universities, FlU provides a significant opportunity to develop more underrepresented minority scientists for biomedical research careers. The MBRS program at FlU has fostered faculty research by enabling selected faculty to conduct biomedical research with adequate funding for equipment and supplies as well as laboratory support for summer research. The program also encourages interdisciplinary interchange, facilitates resource sharing and provides faculty expenses to present their results at national meetings. Additionally, it provides the building of a research experience and data base so as to encourage the faculty to obtain additional, non- MBRS support for their research. This proposal for equipment will continue the efforts of the SCORE grant which represents ongoing research at Florida International University, specifically in the fields of biochemistry, immunology, microbiology, neurophysiology, molecular biology and biomedical engineering. The FlU MBRS SCORE program will enter its third year of a four year award on 04/01/02. There are 7 active subprojects and all projects are on target. The program has met its objectives for years 1 and 2 and the proposed equipment would contribute to the probability of continued success.